


Been a Minute Since I Called You

by armadillosunset



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Compliant, Established Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, Getting Back Together, Harry cares for Louis, Hurt Louis, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, One Shot, a random Drabble really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:21:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25123105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/armadillosunset/pseuds/armadillosunset
Summary: “I know. I just... I just need to finish dividing these up.” Harry waved at the mess around him and went back to the task at hand, scraping the last bits of food from a rectangular glass pan into a plastic container before snapping the  lid on and placing it on one of the many stacks.Louis stepped over and took one of the containers off its stack and turned it around, looking inside. “Lasagna? Is that what this is?”“People have been leaving dishes outside all week.”—x—Or the scene where Harry and Louis get back together.
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson
Comments: 2
Kudos: 111





	Been a Minute Since I Called You

**Author's Note:**

> This was a part of a larger story that I ended up scrapping because it revolved too heavily around Jay’s death and that didn’t sit right with me. 
> 
> But I quite liked this particular part, so here you go. I don’t feel like I’m so much crossing the line with this bit, more like toeing it.

“Harry. It’s one o’clock in the morning.” Louis stopped on the last step of the staircase, looking into the kitchen, curious at the sight before him. Harry stood in the middle of the small room, the countertops littered with various plastic containers and lids. Tinfoil mounded out of the single garbage can in the corner as the kitchen’s table sat stacked with dirty glass dishes that were unable to fit into the overflowing sink. The boy paused for a moment, looking up, a sauce-covered spatula in his hand.

“I know. I just... I just need to finish dividing these up.” Harry waved at the mess around him and went back to the task at hand, scraping the last bits of food from a rectangular glass pan into a plastic container before snapping the lid on and placing it on one of the many stacks.

Louis stepped over and took one of the containers off its stack and turned it around, looking inside. “Lasagna? Is that what this is?”

“People have been leaving dishes outside all week.” Harry replied, ripping the tinfoil off another glass dish and tossing it in the general direction of the garbage can. The silver ball sailed through the air but landed short, rolling off to the side near the cabinet. “Casseroles. Lasagnas. Cold salads. The fridge is full. The freezer is full. I had to go buy another chest freezer for the garage. Then I had to buy I don’t even know how many Tupperware because you had nowhere near enough for all this.”

“You bought—?”

“You also have a couple dozen new baking dishes because most of these didn’t have names written on them, just notes of well wishes and you’re in people’s prayers on the lids, so I have no idea who they go back to.” Harry’s voice rose with irritation the longer he spoke, still filling containers. “And I have no choice, I have to leave tomorrow, so this all needs to get done tonight, because otherwise it won’t get done!” He slammed a dish down on the table before turning back, his mouth pressed into a thin line as his eyes drilled holes straight into Louis.

Louis gently placed the container back onto its stack, his eyes never swaying from the other boy’s. “What is it, Harry? There’s something else, because you’re not one to go slamming around good bakeware.”

The taller boy leaned back against the counter, brushing both hands through his hair. “It’s just. I’m leaving tomorrow, Louis.”

“I understand.”

“You understand? You understand?! No! You don’t! Because what do we do now? What are we now, after everything these couple weeks? Are we going to pretend that nothing ever happened, and go back to fucking ignoring each other like we have been for the last year?!”

“Ignoring! Need I remind you that YOU are the one that walked out?” Louis hissed, his anger rapidly rising as he jabbed a finger in Harry’s direction. 

“And I expected you to follow me!”

“Follow you?!”

“All those years, I stood behind you. I followed you every goddamn time because I loved you and trusted you. For once I expected you to follow me!”

“You don’t think I didn’t want to?” Louis threw his hands in the air. They were shouting now, and soon the whole house would be awake, but he didn’t care. “I couldn’t, Harry. I literally fucking couldn’t.”

“Yes! You could—”

“Are you even listening?! You couldn’t listen for two minutes back then and you still aren’t listening now. I couldn’t follow you, Harry, because I literally. Could. Not.” Louis took two steps closer, standing directly in front of Harry, able to be eye to eye as the other boy leaned against the counter still. He jabbed a finger into Harry’s chest.

“Did you honestly think that piece of homophobic shit was really letting you out of a contract that easily? After everything he made us go through for all those years, all that bullshit and suffering we endured in the name of a binding contract, that he would let things go just because we asked nicely?! No! I saw how miserable we all were, how miserable YOU were, and I made a deal with the literal goddamn devil so you could be free. That’s how much I loved you, to set myself up for another five years of pure torture, so you could finally go and be yourself.”

The anger from Harry’s face suddenly dropped as Louis’s words slammed into him.

“You thought things were strict in the first contract? Now, I’m not even allowed to be in the same fucking building as you! Im not allowed to acknowledge your existence! These two weeks have been a breach of fucking contract! As much as I love him, I have a son now because of all this. All those relationship contracts got fucking renewed. Renewed, Harry! I have to be nice to that shithead on his own stupid show every goddamn week. They have control of all my social media, my phone, everything. I wanted to explain this all to you then, but you just stormed the fuck off. And now here we are, a year later.”

“That’s why you called from your sister’s phone. At the hospital.” Harry whispered, his hand over his mouth.

“Yes. Because in that moment, as my mum lay dying I didn’t give a shit about a contract. I just wanted you, Harry. You. I know we hadn’t spoken in how long, but you were the only person I wanted right then even though you are the only person I’m forbidden from being around.” Louis’s voice cracked as a tear rolled down his cheek. “Because I still want you, Harry; I never stopped. Not for a second.”

Silence passed between them as Harry gazed at Louis, his small hands gripping the countertop, holding himself up. His eyes scrunched shut as if trying desperately to erase something painful from his conscious. A thousand thoughts ran through Harry’s head in that time, all the things that happened since that moment, so long ago now, when he left, leaving Louis shouting from their living room as the back door slammed shut. All the things he knew because the public knew, and the things he knew only secondhand from Niall.

“I came.”

“What?”

“I didn’t even think twice.” Harry’s voice was soft, long past the shouting of only moments ago, as he stared blankly at the floor. “When you called, and you told me what was happening, I forgot about everything. I dropped everything and came because you called me. I didn’t think about being mad, or that we hadn’t talked in months. I just thought how you needed me.” He looked over at the boy standing next to him. “You finally needed me, and I stayed long past my welcome, trying to buy time with laundry and cleaning and scooping abandoned casseroles because I didn’t want this to end.”

Louis met Harry’s eyes as they both stood, leaning against the counter.

“I don’t want to leave again, Lou.”

“Good,” Louis smirked, “cause I never wanted you to leave in the first place.” He reached over and tugged at the hem of the other boy’s shirt, one of their oldest and most-used signals to each other. Harry’s eyes lit up at the tug, his face grinning as he turned and swept an arm over the countertop, pushing containers out of the way and clearing enough space for Louis to hop up and sit on the edge. He continued to smirk, his eyes squinting in delight as Harry stepped closer, standing between his legs. 

Louis ran a hand through the tall boy’s hair as his eyes took in the sight before him, the soft brown hair, the beautiful marbled-green eyes so full of joy, the dimpled smile that radiated beauty; all the things Louis could only dream of from memory this last long, lonely, year.

“There’s no hair for me to grab,” he teased, tugging at a small bit near the back.

“I’m sure you’ll make do,” Harry replied as he leaned forward, his hands instinctively sliding under Louis’s thighs, noses touching for a moment before their lips pressed together. 

The feel of Harry’s lips were softer than Louis remembered, his taste a deeper, more complex sweetness. Once the kiss began, Louis savored every moment and every inch as his fingers trailed their way down the other boy’s neck, his shoulders, his chest. As his fingers trailed down the arms on either side of him, his mind was fixated on every touch, every sensation he had been deprived of for so long. He didn’t notice as his elbow slowly pushed into a stack of filled containers beside him, inching them towards the edge.

They both jumped as the containers landed with a crash at Harry’s feet.

When they realized they were now clinging to each other, noodles and cream sauce littering the floor, laughter filled the kitchen.

“We should—I should finish packing these up,” Harry laughed, as he unlatched Louis’s legs from around his waist.

“Yeah, yeah. Probably a good idea.” Louis hopped down off the counter, “we’ll just finish what’s out. Leave the rest and the dishes for morning. It’s late.”

Working together, the two boys made quick time of the chore, even including time for Louis to launch into a monologue, after realizing the kitchen’s refrigerator and freezer were indeed packed full of strangers’ food, about people needing to mind their own business after a certain point—that at this rate, his sisters wouldn’t need to grocery shop until summer. Harry just nodded along, smiling and offering bits of agreements when the opening presented itself. He never thought it would bring him joy to see Louis go on another rant about something so insignificant, but here he was.

Louis locked the sliding door behind him as they came in from their last trip to the freezer in the garage. “God, I’m ready for bed,” he muttered as he walked ever to the stairs and began to climb them. He paused as he realized the steps didn’t squeak behind him. Turning around, he watched Harry keep walking toward the living room and the couch where he had been sleeping since he arrived. “What are you doing?”

“Huh?” Harry turned around in the doorway. “I’m going to... bed?”

They stared at each other for a moment before Louis rolled his eyes and nodded his head up the stairs, silently telling the other boy ‘this way, you idiot’. 

Harry cocked an eyebrow, but began walking toward the stairs anyway. “Do you think that’s a good idea?”

“You’re the best idea I’ve ever had, Haz.” Louis smirked. As the boy passed him on the staircase, his hand smacked the tall boy’s behind, rewarding him with a soft yelp of surprise from Harry.

“You’ve still got it, lad. You’ve still got it,” Louis remarked as he fell in step with the other boy up the stairs to the only unoccupied bedroom.

The sunlight bounced into Louis’s eyes, making him stir. Far too little sleep had been had, and now the sun had the audacity to be waking him up. He shifted, wrapped in his sheets, as he stretched his arms over his head when he suddenly became very aware of a weight on his chest. Looking down, he found a mass of dark curls laying on his bare chest, Harry’s face calmly asleep, his hand resting beside his head. Louis smiled at the sight of the boy curled up next to him as he brought his arm down to rest across the other’s bare shoulders, pulling him even closer, his skin still soft and smooth beneath his fingertips.

“Morning, sunshine.” Harry’s voice was still gravelly with sleep as he shifted beneath Louis’s touch, a small smile finding his lips though his eyes remained closed.

“Morning,” he replied, as he gazed down, following the lines of the sheets to see their legs intertwined beneath. It was morning, Harry was still here, none of it had been a dream. “When do you—”

“Hey Louis!” A young girl’s voice shouted through the closed door, cutting him off.

“Shit—”

Without warning, the door clicked as the handle turned, the girl’s voice louder without the obstruction. “Lottie wants to know why the kit—.” The girl froze in the doorway as she looked in, her eyes wide at the sight of her brother sharing a small single bed with another, familiar, boy; both of them, at the very least, shirtless, though the carnage of clothing littering the room suggested otherwise.

“Hello, Daisy.” Harry gave a little wave to the girl, finally opening his eyes.

“You really need to learn to knock,” Louis muttered.

After a long, awkward silence of the girl glancing between the two boys, Daisy retreated back the way she came, her voice filling the small house. “Lottie! I found Harry!”

“Well, this is going to be a wonderful conversation for the breakfast table,” Louis groaned

**Author's Note:**

> MY APOLOGIES TO ANYONE WHO FOUND THIS FIC WHILE IT WAS TAGGED WITH (any of the five or so related tags of) ‘FLUFF’.
> 
> I tend towards fluffy writing (which you know if you’ve read any of my other works). And I didn’t think twice and just started listing all my usual tags.
> 
> It’s all fixed now, but I am so so sorry if you came into this after finding the fluff tags <3 <3<3


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